The real English translation is: "I'm a stupid thug, and don't realize how hilariously insecure and scared I make myself and my country look."

nmcvaugh1
—
2014-02-08T04:17:13Z —
#3

As the WSJ may remember, if the government can't watch your shower, the terrorists win. Oh, and 9/11.

MikeKStar
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2014-02-08T04:19:05Z —
#4

In Soviet Russia, Olympics watch you!

SamWinston
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2014-02-08T04:29:29Z —
#5

Putin is watching you Poop.

that he would release hidden-camera footage of journalists in their hotel bathrooms if they continued to complain about the substandard hotels in Sochi.

Oh..please..please please.

PrestonSturges
—
2014-02-08T04:31:23Z —
#6

Just like summer camp!

Skeptic
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2014-02-08T04:38:53Z —
#7

Russian Olympic official to reporters: stop complaining about hotels or we’ll release CCTV footage of you in the bathroom

I love you but that isn't what he said. Nor this: "the hotel bathrooms have surveillance cameras that watch you in the shower. "

He said there was footage of the shower left pointing at the wall. You can interpret that a number of ways, including that there are spy cameras in the bathroom rooms, or you can interpret that in the more logical and more likely way, which is that people checking on the rooms found the showers going and took footage of it. (Assuming there is any actual footage at all.)

There is all sorts of wrong going on with surveillance in Russian and at the Olympics in Sochi, so there is no need to create misleading, sensationalist headlines and copy. There should be more than enough actual horribleness to report on accurately and still be appalling.

SquidleyRoyale
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2014-02-08T04:41:54Z —
#8

OH crap, I don't know which hole in the drywall I'm supposed to suspect is suspecting me of "setting a bad example for the kids"

jere7my
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2014-02-08T04:47:09Z —
#9

Nowhere in the article does anyone say what the headline says they said.

SamWinston
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2014-02-08T04:56:59Z —
#10

CORY...CORY! now would be good time to repost your technique of spotting cameras in your room.

redesigned
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2014-02-08T05:02:18Z —
#11

I was going to call bullsh*t, any place that can't get working toilets, running water, and other basic features done and working, certainly don't have a high-tech, totally undetectable, hidden camera network in the non-working bathrooms. but the article this post links to clearly states numerous times that there are no hidden cameras in the bathrooms, and that the guy was simply accusing westerners of attempted sabotage, both through negative press coverage, and through wasteful water management, ie, leaving their showers on all day while they aren't in their rooms. so it still bullsh*t, just a different flavor of bullsh*t.

SamWinston
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2014-02-08T05:04:43Z —
#12

A) they're taking video of rooms people occupy..as a 'cover your ass thing' That is still an invasion of privacy. B) There's spy cams in the bathrooms--that is still an invasion of privacy. C) Showers 'pointed to the wall" doesn't explain the weirdness or how showers pointed to the wall prevent toilets from being installed and other failures of hotel rooms in the city for an amazing price tag.

I haven't seen many blog pics that could be explained by a shower pointed to the wall and left on. Have you...please post pics and give citation.

Flugfrei_Jones
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2014-02-08T05:13:06Z —
#13

is that weird..? because i have years of myself in the shower on vhs (yeah, it's still vhs) but i always figured if the pope showed up and asked me what i was doing in the shower i'd have evidence. it's safer that way, isn't it?

PhasmaFelis
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2014-02-08T05:20:34Z —
#14

Skeptic:

I love you but that isn't what he said. Nor this: "the hotel bathrooms have surveillance cameras that watch you in the shower. "

Yes, this. God dammit, Cory, could you please stop just making shit up about people you don't like? Especially when the truth is already plenty damning? All this does is make you look unreliable and hurt your cause.

LDoBe
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2014-02-08T05:29:34Z —
#15

redesigned:

the guy was simply accusing westerners of attempted sabotage, both through negative press coverage, and through wasteful water management

Is it really sabotage when the shitty buildings are unfinished and unsafe before the reporters get there? Is it wasteful water management when the water "contains something very dangerous"?

The Russians have only themselves to accuse if they think sabotage is happening. Let their corrupt government squirm under the world's derisive gaze. And saying that the west is corrupt as well is completely irrelevant to the fact that the Russians have f'd up something fierce, and are trying to cover their ass with a series of red herrings. And everyone knows that fish make terrible pants.

SamWinston
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2014-02-08T05:37:54Z —
#17

Really, your arguing of a bit of semantics. The reports say they have video's of people's room, their bath rooms.

Okay...we'll give you "there are no spy cams in the bath" but apparently there are state agents that go to people's rooms after they've left the room for the day if we accept your argument.

I take it you'd be good with a state agency coming into your room and videotaping your hotel room? Because that is what your statement says.

What oversight is done...are the people videotaping these complaints called before plumbers, etc? Maybe even going through the luggage while they're there filming your bathroom while your gone for the day?

Are the people that go into people's room and video tape the ones that move the showerhead. I haven't seen any photos or complaints from people that could have been caused by a misdirected showerhead...Have you? Post them...please.

Skeptic
—
2014-02-08T06:06:19Z —
#18

SamWinston:

Really, your arguing of a bit of semantics.

I'm really not. Cory misrepresented what the guy said. And, frankly, it isn't inherently that ominous to have a video of a shower going in an un-occupied hotel room. Hotels all over the world have cleaning staff go into every single room in use every day. Videoing it with a cell phone would be trivial to do, if there even is a video. Could there be hidden spy cameras in the rooms? Possible. But that isn't what the guy said, nor did he threaten to release "CCTV footage" of people in hotel bathrooms. That is just an outright falsehood on Cory's part.

The Russians are doing all sorts of bad stuff in Sochi. There is no need to just make stuff up or misrepresent it just to be sensationalistic - there's no excuse for that. BB isn't the Daily Mail.

bwv812
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2014-02-08T06:08:54Z —
#19

Not long ago Cory was loudly complaining that a Conservative MP "spins, lies, and slanders in Parliament," saying that there is "no intellectually honest way to say that hiring a freelancer to write about a story they know is the same as paying a source for documents" (even though Greenwald is basically the only source for Snowden's documents). And yet here we have him saying that the deputy PM "warned" reporters that he would "release CCTV footage" of the reporters in the bathroom, even though the deputy PM only said that footage of someone—and not necessarily or impliedly reporters—exists, and it's a stretch to say he even implied that he would release this footage. So I guess this would be Cory spinning, lying, and slandering on a blog (and remember that Cory seems to believe that blog writers should be treated the same as journalists, in which case we seem to have firmly entered Daily Mail territory), whereas those speaking in Parliament are protected from libel claims.

pjcamp
—
2014-02-08T06:16:10Z —
#20

Wouldn't you need a new Gulag to make people watch naked journalists?

Skeptic
—
2014-02-08T06:32:41Z —
#21

PM only said that footage of someone—and not necessarily or impliedly reporters—exists,

He didn't even necessarily say that.

“We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall and then leave the room for the whole day,

Note the tense. He didn't say "shows people turn ing on the shower". What he said more likely means that video taken by maintenance staff of an un-occupied room "shows" that someone turned on the shower and left it running, as opposed to video from a hidden camera showing the perpetrator caught in the act, live, on camera. (If any video even exists and wasn't just made up as a lie to save face by the official.)

I'm not saying the Russians wouldn't stoop so low as to install hidden cameras all over Sochi, but the official didn't say what Cory claimed he said.

Plenty of stuff the Russians do is real, like all of the unfurnished buildings, all of the corruption, all of the publicly stated plans to spy on communications, etc. No need to misrepresent anything.